Hard well water or Softened well water

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ManicPenguin

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Nov 26, 2013
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I live in west-central Indiana....Tippecanoe county. The well water here is sulfurous, very hard, with lots of iron....I would have an orange tank if I used straight well water.

I have been using softened well water, however, I think it is contributing to hazy water and a high PH of 8.4.

I have a couple of 5 gallon water bottle so I could buy RO at the grocery store.....but that is a HUGE hassle.

I have thought about buying one of the RO systems from Amazon, but the holding tank on those is only a couple gallons and they take over an hour to fill....there is no way I could afford the big system from Culligan at almost $1k.

So, should I be conditioning my softened well water with something? If so with what? Will that help the water clear?

Should I buy RO every week from grocery store? Does RO need to be conditioned? If so with what?

Thoughts?

20 Gallon
2 Guppies
6 Mollies
2 Cories
Gravel
2 tetra whisper filter pumps, 1,20 and 1,30
 
If you are running your well water through a water softener unit then that water isn't good for tanks. Reason being is when the hard water is run through the unit it exchanges magnesium and calcium ions, which are good for fish and plants, for sodium ions which is not good for plants.

I use this portable RO unit and have for a long time.... Pro100

portable countertop reverse osmosis drinking water system - remove fluoride, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs and more

It makes a gallon in 30 minutes (water pressure determines how fast it runs) and I store it in 2g containers. Easy to hook up, use, and unhook to put away. For a 20g tank it would be easy to make 10g a week for a WC. Then all you'd need is Seachem's Replenish if it's a fish only tank or Equilibrium if it's a planted tank.
 
I don't have live plants as of yet, and since I am running mainly Mollies and Guppies, I salt the water lightly...1.5T of Aquarium Salt for 20 gal.

Thanks for the link, I may end up getting an RO setup like that.
 
GO to RODI water, then remineralize it with Seachem Equilibrum. Don't only put RODI water into an aquarium, as the PH will big swing because the RODI water isn't buffered.

You can supplement Seachem Equilibrum with a bit (very bit) baking soda to prevent PH swings.
 
There is nothing wrong with using softened water for fish tanks. I've bred nearly a hundred species of wild caught cichlids including discus using well water softened with a water softener, and I'm not the only one. I don't use water treatments like Prime or add in any additional conditioners. I also have a couple of low light planted tanks which are using the same water without issues, I trim and sell off trimmings every 4 weeks. Every tank in my house(nearly 1000 gallons) gets water changes of 50-75% weekly, so trust me your softened water is just fine to use.

If your really concerned about using the softener most newer models have a bypass valve which bypasses the softener completely, I personally wouldn't bother.
 
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Thanks for the information.

What about the high PH? I know stability is more important that absolute numbers, but I think 8.4 is still too high...right?
 
Thanks for the information.

What about the high PH? I know stability is more important that absolute numbers, but I think 8.4 is still too high...right?

The PH is just fine, and will be far better in the long run due to the stability and buffering capacity. Most species will adapt without issue when properly acclimated. I wouldn't worry about, I'm north of Chicago on a private well and my water out the tap runs around 8.2, if I can successfully breed discus in similar conditions you'll be just fine.
 
If you use soft water, the carbonate hardness (KH) will be lower. The lower the KH is, the lower the natural PH will be. So if you cut your tap with RODI water, you lower the KH in the final mixture, so the PH will lower slowly.

If you use only RODI water, you must add KH in it (baking soda, but seachem equilibrum contains better thing than baking soda). Don't use only RODI water, because this water is 99% pure, and the PH swings (up and down all the day) will kill your fish.

What's your KH value in dKH° ? Here the PH is 7.2 at 2dKH°.

If I raise the carbonate hardness at 10dKH°, PH naturally raise to 8-8.5 naturally, without adding PH+.
 
The PH is just fine, and will be far better in the long run due to the stability and buffering capacity. Most species will adapt without issue when properly acclimated. I wouldn't worry about, I'm north of Chicago on a private well and my water out the tap runs around 8.2, if I can successfully breed discus in similar conditions you'll be just fine.

I think I get same or similar water as you....maybe same aquifer. I am in Tippecanoe county Indiana...about 1.5 hours south of Chicago.

I have the same 8-8.2 PH well water as you do. Glad to hear it is OK for my fishies.

What about the clearness....do you have the cool "fish swimming in air" clearness? Is it possible with well water?
 
If you use soft water, the carbonate hardness (KH) will be lower. The lower the KH is, the lower the natural PH will be. So if you cut your tap with RODI water, you lower the KH in the final mixture, so the PH will lower slowly.

If you use only RODI water, you must add KH in it (baking soda, but seachem equilibrum contains better thing than baking soda). Don't use only RODI water, because this water is 99% pure, and the PH swings (up and down all the day) will kill your fish.

What's your KH value in dKH° ? Here the PH is 7.2 at 2dKH°.

If I raise the carbonate hardness at 10dKH°, PH naturally raise to 8-8.5 naturally, without adding PH+.

I don't have a equipment to test hardness. I only know that the unsoftened hardness is around 400 ppm tds...mostly calcium and magnesium, because I test my pool every spring.
 
What about the clearness....do you have the cool "fish swimming in air" clearness? Is it possible with well water?

Yes the my tanks are crystal clear due to the amount of water I change weekly, I have a few tanks which get 2-3 50% changes weekly due to a high bioload. I would look at your mechanical filtration and look to add some filter floss to your filters, This will polish the water by removing the ultra fine suspended particles. It can be purchased very inexpensive at Walmart or a craft store. I use this in all my tanks and normally replace it during my weekly water changes.

Poly-Fil Premium Polyester Fiber Fill - Walmart.com
 
Yes the my tanks are crystal clear due to the amount of water I change weekly, I have a few tanks which get 2-3 50% changes weekly due to a high bioload. I would look at your mechanical filtration and look to add some filter floss to your filters, This will polish the water by removing the ultra fine suspended particles. It can be purchased very inexpensive at Walmart or a craft store. I use this in all my tanks and normally replace it during my weekly water changes.

Poly-Fil Premium Polyester Fiber Fill - Walmart.com

I have the Tetra Whisper HOB filter pumps that take the bag style filters and the black spongy stuff that is supposed to grow bacteria.

Should I just stuff the floss in the well that is behind the filter bag? Do I even need the filter bag at that point?
 
I have the Tetra Whisper HOB filter pumps that take the bag style filters and the black spongy stuff that is supposed to grow bacteria.

Should I just stuff the floss in the well that is behind the filter bag? Do I even need the filter bag at that point?

Yes keep the cartridge and just stuff the Poly-fil before the insert as that will also keep the insert from plugging up as quick.
 
Thanks so much for all of your advice. I'll get some poly stuffing today and stick it in the filter pump.

I'll clean it well first of course..

cheers!
 
I've actually known a few people who are on whole house water softeners that had nothing but problems with fish and especially plants until they stopped using it and went to either RO or got a by pass. I have always had the understanding that since magnesium and calcium ions are exchanged for sodium ions in these units that the heavy sodium ions are not good or usable for plants and many fish unlike magnesium and calcium are.
 
Keep in mind that if you do use the bypass and you are using warm water to fill your aquarium, your water heater is also getting hard water into it. I always make sure that if I use the bypass, I also take a shower right afterwards to refill the water heater with softened water. I usually do not use the bypass, and my planted aquariums don't show any distress compared to the times I do use it, for what it's worth...

I'm also on a private well, not municipal water. That could make a difference in my situation as well...
 
Makes me wonder if different water softener systems add more sodium into the water than others. Or if you get higher numbers of sodium ions in the softened water when the original tap or well water has a lot of magnesium and or calcium. This is an AquaChem question.

I have a friend in FL that has off the charts hard water and had no end of problems with his fish (angelfish and discus tanks) and plants (couldn't hardly get any live) until he had a by-pass installed. As soon as he started using the other water cut with RO to soften it his plants and fish did great.
 
Makes me wonder if different water softener systems add more sodium into the water than others. Or if you get higher numbers of sodium ions in the softened water when the original tap or well water has a lot of magnesium and or calcium. This is an AquaChem question..

That may well be, I have a fairly expensive system that test the water before each recharge which is done as needed. But I will also add my old softener was extremely basic and I still had zero issues with the cichlids, plants, or even some of the more delicate inverts.
 
That may well be, I have a fairly expensive system that test the water before each recharge which is done as needed. But I will also add my old softener was extremely basic and I still had zero issues with the cichlids, plants, or even some of the more delicate inverts.

I'm wondering if the different amounts of magnesium and calcium in different peoples water can mean different levels of sodium ions. That could explain why some people have problems and some don't. It's kind of interesting and I'd love to know the answer.
 
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